Opening a franchise comes with many perks not all startup companies can enjoy. Running a franchise gives you the whole entrepreneurial experience without the uncertainty that comes with being a new business owner. The franchisor will sell you rights to use the product, brand, and business name. In other words, you’re using a tried and tested business model. But it’s not all rainbows and sunshine when franchising a business. For one, you won’t have much liberty when it comes to the location, product variation, and design. Additionally, you’ll have to fend for yourself financially, which means you may have to apply for franchise business loans.

Franchising a business is a great opportunity but it’s not as easy as they make out to be, especially if you don’t have enough funding. If you’re in need of working capital, check out the top three franchise business loans.

1. SBA Loans

SBA loans are one of the most sought-after financing solutions available for small business owners today. The U.S. Small Business Association created SBA loans specifically for small businesses that need funding. SBA loans are partially guaranteed by the government (up to 85%) and funded by SBA-approved banks and alternative lenders.

This type of loan functions similarly to traditional terms loans people get from banks or alternative lenders. The only difference is that the guarantee from the SBA reduces the risk to lenders. This means that lenders are incentivized to loan money to small business owners and charge lower interest rates and longer repayment terms.

The downside of SBA loans is that it’s harder to qualify compared to other types of loans. If you have a good credit score, healthy cash flow, and established business history, you can try your luck. Keep in mind that the application process can take weeks or months and the standards are stringent. Be sure to assess your chances of approval before you spend much time applying for one.

2. Traditional Bank Loans

Banks are the go-to option for many entrepreneurs looking to apply for a small business loan. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s easy to qualify for one. Fortunately, many banks and credit unions favor franchises because of proven track record. According to a study by the Small Business Administration, around 37.8% of new franchise businesses are funded by traditional bank loans, compared to the 23.1% of non-franchise startups.

before you apply for a bank loan, make sure that your credit score is good and that you have the necessary documents – personal financial statement, profit and loss statements, tax returns, etc., as well as a comprehensive business plan. Aside from qualifying for a loan, you also want to receive better terms. So, even though banks don’t have a problem offering to finance to franchises, strive to get better terms by surpassing the qualifications set by the lender. But just like SBA loans, it may take time before you can receive funding.

3. Alternative or Online Business Loans

Alternative lenders, or also known as alternative online lenders, offer different types of loan products, from term loans, equipment loans, or ass-based loans to purchase order financing and SBA loans. The loans offered by alternative lenders can cover every type of business need, like working capital, unforeseen expenses, equipment purchases, and advertising expenses.

Online lenders are a great option if you need immediate access to funding. Unlike traditional loans, your application process can be done online and the entire application is usually processed within hours. This means that you’ll receive the cash in as little as 24 to 48 hours, depending on the lender you’re working with. If you don’t qualify for traditional banks loans or SBA loans, you’ll likely get funding form alternative lenders.

However, the accessibility, speed, and convenience alternative lenders offer come at a price. Be prepared to pay higher interest rated compared to the ones offered by banks loans. Make sure to assess your capabilities and your business to see if it’s worth the added cost.

Franchise Business Loans to Fund Your Franchise

Being a franchise owner is a great way to dip your toes into entrepreneurship without much risk. You’ll enter into business knowing that you have a proven business model and a large corporation to back you up. Just make sure you have sufficient capital to back you up.

SMB Compass offers franchise business loans for entrepreneurs in the United States. Our finance experts are available to answer your questions and concerns. Call us for a no-obligation chat today at (888) 853-8922.

The capital of Poland is often associated with its turbulent history. However, even though it’s full of its traces, the city doesn’t only live its past. Warsaw is also a rapidly developing metropolis which provides its habitants with numerous places to spend their free time –also unconventionally. Famous for its massage offer, it is a perfect place for the first visit to an erotic spa and trying one of Warsaw body to body massage.

Table of contents

Location of the erotic spa

The variety of Warsaw body to body massages

Privacy and atmosphere inside erotic spa

Location of the erotic spa

Constantly expanding, Warsaw has lately become an enormous agglomeration, a big part of which are the suburbs. That’s why it’s crucial to stay within the central area – moving around the most lively neighborhoods spread across the river can be a confusing experience. The surroundings of the Palace of Culture and Science will be the best choice when it comes to location. The Parade Square, on which the emblematic building is located, constitutes the central point of the capital. Surrounded by three metro stations, it’s one of the best-connected areas of the city. It’s also a good place to start your trip from – there are a lot of bars, restaurants and leisure places in the neighborhood, as well as erotic spas. One of them is Desert Rose, which has its salons on Jasna Street and Grzybowska Street. For detailed locations, check https://desertrose24.com/.

The variety of Warsaw body to body massages

The right choice of the massage is crucial when it comes to the first visit to the erotic spa – if you have chosen right, you will want to come back as soon as possible. Depending on the technique, the approach to the massage differs fundamentally. For example, Thai massage allows you to stay in clothes; meanwhile, the clients that have chosen warsaw Nuru massage will be asked to undress completely. Any personal wishes should be reported directly in the erotic spa where the choice can be adjusted to your preferences.

Privacy and atmosphere inside erotic spa

Like any type of service, that is based on mutual intimacy, the erotic spa should provide privacy. For many of the clients, it’s the crucial factor which determines their sense of comfortability – and without it, the deep relaxation is impossible. Choosing a perfect erotic spa, it’s also worth to keep in mind that the atmosphere created in the salon plays a big part in the course of the massage session. Candles, aromatic oils, and beautiful textiles will surely lift the experience to a higher level.

Babymoon, a phase where a couple has an intruder that does not cries or poops but makes the mom do everything he wants. It is the last time when, as a couple you will enjoy a romantic getaway alone (not entirely). But there are many things that you need to understand while planning the vacation as your partner needs extra attention, space, and comfort. First and foremost seek your gynaecologist’s permission and once the consent is granted, keep in mind below-mentioned tips:

Get pregnancy travel insurance: First of all, your general health insurance won’t cover your medical expenses during transit especially internationally. Secondly, if you are pregnant then you need pregnancy insurance to cover health complications, premature delivery or emergency while you are travelling. You can get a fast cover maternity insurance that will cover emergencies while you are vacationing. When it comes to pregnancy one should cover all the loopholes and risks to avoid any mishap.

Plan second-trimester babymoon: While the first trimester is all about morning sickness, low energy, major mood swings and chances of miscarriage are also high; you should avoid travelling. Whereas, third trimester is all about comfort and possibilities of premature delivery are high. So, second trimester is the best time to travel as the energy is high and mood swings are less.

Ditch the risk: Now is not the time to experiment. Instead, you should stick to the destinations that are developed and have excellent medical facilities. A mother needs familiar food and environment, so choose a place with a tropical climate and modern amenities. Avoid crossing international waters or vacationing in a different continent altogether as the flight will be long and vacation will be challenging as your pregnant partner will have to adjust a lot.

Get your shots: While travelling overseas, it is essential to get proper body check-up and cover the risk. One should get all the shots like malaria, Zika virus, yellow fever, etc. to avoid any problems. Along with it ask your gynaecologist to make a diet plan that you can follow or medicines that you can take if you feel nauseated or symptoms of morning sickness return.

Pregnancy packing: While you are packing for you and your baby bump, make sure that you choose comfort over fads. Exchange heels with platforms, tights with stretch pants and most important pack light while travelling. Keep some munchies with you all the time and ditch heavy accessories and bump band, so that impact of jerks is minimal.

Bookings and reservations: Opt for flights that provide assistance to a pregnant woman especially in case of emergency. Along with it book an aisle seat so that you can visit washroom easily.

Lastly, the goal of babymoon should be a relaxing holiday, not the adventurous one. So do not overexert or overdo while travelling and take proper rest. With proper planning and care your babymoon will be the best vacation you will ever experience.

ABM Strategy

The ABM strategy was created as a result of B2B buyers only looking for a relevant and appropriate message, and often ignoring everything else.

The ABM strategy acts as a tool for marketers, allowing them to avoid generic sales pitches and rather focus on the customer’s most important needs.

What is Account Based Marketing?

In short, Account Based Marketing is a marketing strategy where we focus on and market to a large number of potential or existing customers, often called “key accounts”. These are customers who are most likely to help strengthen the company’s bottom line.

The strategy helps to market more directly with a one-to-one approach, in contrast to the traditional one-to-many approach we normally use in marketing.

In order to market directly to these customers, a thorough survey of their needs is required. At the same time, marketing must be targeted at the corporate culture. This is how you can create a message that speaks to your customers on a personal level.

Targeted Marketing

In other words, Account Based Marketing stands out from traditional marketing in that we do not market to a specific audience or geographical area, but rather to specific organizations and customers.

ABM is about delivering personalized programs and campaigns with messages and content aimed at selected potential and existing customers.

With this, you should be able to get them closer to your goal, whether it is a sale, cross-selling, renewing a contract or influencing a particular decision.

Increased ROI

ABM is a highly effective marketing strategy for businesses operating with B2B. The reason is that marketing is based on a personal approach. The strategy also excludes irrelevant messages that are not useful or appropriate for potential or existing customers, making it easier to speak directly to customers.

Account Based Marketing has proven to help increase ROI on marketing campaigns. Without such a strategy, it is difficult to know which customers you are going to get, what the potential customers can offer and what this adds to the value of your business. This means that you risk loss on your investment.

With Account Based Marketing, on the other hand, you focus on your company’s efforts and increasing revenue with the right customers. These are customers who want good cooperation, are flexible, have the opportunity to buy more from you and that gives you a higher income effect.

What Are the Benefits of Account Based Marketing?

One of the best benefits of the ABM strategy is that it is targeted. Instead of having a few conversions, ABM aims to target a group of potential customers who are most likely to accept an offer.

Often, you will get in touch with key people of your selected customers who you can influence in your decisions, thus building closer customer relationships that lead to increased sales and increased revenue opportunities.

In other words, Account Based Marketing is not just about getting hold of large customers or so-called key accounts. The strategy is also about improving the customer experience.

A good customer experience keeps you engaged and helps them grow through, for example, cross-selling and additional sales as well as expanding existing customer relationships.

How to Use ABM

The process starts with analyzing and defining which customers give the company the highest monthly fixed income.

For instance: You should map out which industry they belong to, how big they are, where they are geographically, profits also continue. You do this to define which customers you want to find.

Once you have figured out who, what, where and when, it’s time to roll out your campaign.

Here, it is important that the content and marketing is not perceived as desperate. Yes, you should sell, but the campaign should also be appealing. It should be interesting and engaging, and the content should be of value to potential customers.

Who Can Use ABM?

Account Based Marketing is often used by larger companies, but there is nothing wrong with smaller companies adopting this marketing strategy.

]]>What To Cut Back On When You’re In Debthttps://cmtcorporation.net/what-to-cut-back-on-when-youre-in-debt/
Fri, 09 Aug 2019 11:25:55 +0000https://cmtcorporation.net/?p=1175

We live within a culture of spending more than we earn. Most of us have savings goals, but find ourselves unable to commit to them because we simply don’t have enough money left when we get to the end of each month. More than that – in some cases, our incomes don’t even cover our bills. More and more people are slowly slipping into deeper credit card, overdraft, and loan debt each month, without a clear path to balancing the books again. Debt is now at epidemic levels in the United States of America.

When you’re in debt, it’s natural to feel worried about the situation. Worry turns into stress, and stress turns into sleepless nights wondering how you’re going to get back into the black. The obvious answer is to cut back on spending, but if we do that, we’re impacting our quality of life. Nobody wants their lifestyle to suffer because of debt, and so it’s hard to know what to cut back on to improve our situation.

Help is at hand, though. There are a few ways we can reduce our monthly outgoings without sacrificing too many of the things we enjoy – and many of them are easy to implement.

Shop Around For Your Utilities

Gas and electricity are expenses that we can’t avoid. Nobody can go without power in their home, and so everyone has to budget for it. What you can control, though, is how much you’re spending on each bill – and we don’t mean just by making sure you always switch lights off when a room isn’t in use. The available data suggests that as many as one in three people can’t even say for sure how much they’re spending on utilities each month, let alone whether they’ve shopped around to save money on those bills within the last year. If you’ve been with the same supplier for some time, and you’ve noticed your bills slowly creeping up, you might be surprised to find out that you could save as much as 50% just by chopping and changing. You still get to use the same amount of power – it’s just cheaper.

Switch Your Credit Card Debt

If you’ve racked up a few thousand dollars of debt on a credit card, it’s not going to go away. It has to be paid off. Credit cards are a great way of making a big purchase without having to save for it, but when your credit card bills are costing you a few hundred dollars each month, it’s bound to impact on your spending elsewhere. Part of your repayment – perhaps even as much as 20% – is going on interest. If you have a good credit rating, you might be able to switch the balance onto a new credit card with 0% interest for a period of time. That means you can keep your repayments the same and reduce the balance faster, or you can pay a little less each month and have more to spend on the things you like. When he 0% interest deal ends, you can repeat the trick and keep it going.

Cut Back On Hobbies

Everyone needs a hobby, but hobbies can be a money pit if you’re not careful with them. A common hobby that people in debt have is gambling. It’s easy to see why. One good win could lift you out of debt, and solve your problems permanently. Chasing that win is expensive, though – and even more so when it doesn’t come. If you’re struggling, it’s time to stop playing mobile slots on online casinos or their sister sites. We have nothing against mobile slots – they’re harmless fun when you have the money to spend on them – but they’re not going to help you if you’re short on cash elsewhere. Mobile slots are not your route out of debt. Mobile slots are there for when you have a little extra money to play with, and you can afford to stand a loss while you’re chasing a win. Cut back on online slots and other forms of gambling if you’re in debt. You can always go back to them when your financial situation is better.

Take A Packed Lunch To Work

Often, it’s the little expenses which quietly sneak up on you. Spending $10 a day on lunch at work may not feel like a lot, but that’s $50 a week. Over the course of a year, that’s $2,600. When you look at it like that, it’s not such a small bill after all. Use the food which you have at home instead. Make yourself sandwiches, or a salad, and take that to work instead of spending in the canteen or the store down the road. Consider whether you really need a $5 coffee on your way to work, too. You’ll still be spending some money on lunch, but not as much as you would if you were heading out of the office for it every day.

Order Home Deliveries

Almost all of us are impulse buyers to some degree. Many of us make it worse by going food shopping while we’re hungry! When we’re in a store, we get distracted by special offers, or seeing products on the shelf that we wouldn’t previously have considered buying. Before we know it, the products are in our basket, and our shopping bill has gone up. This doesn’t happen when you do your monthly or weekly food shop online. You’ll find that you only buy the things you really want or need, and the impulse buys don’t happen. The net result is that you’ll find yourself saving a couple of hundred dollars each month – and when you’re in debt, a couple of hundred dollars can make all the difference.

We haven’t talked about cutting back on the money you spend socializing, because we know that socializing is probably the last thing you want to give up on. If you’re able to make a few adjustments as we’ve just suggested, you hopefully won’t have to. Lower utility bills, lower credit card payment, lower food bills, and less money spent on hobbies should save you enough money to carry on doing the things you enjoy in your own time. If you still find yourself in a hole, though, always seek professional debt advice before the problem gets any worse.

I suppose I could very well have titled this post a little differently, emphasizing the targeting of corporate authorities who perhaps want to organize a corporate event that pays for itself. Naturally you’d have a budget set aside for such do-s in anyway, but hey, if you can save money in any which way, that’s exactly what you’d do, right?

In any case, if you do indeed want to organize a corporate event that pays for itself, or one through which you can drastically minimize costs if not eliminating them completely, it would have to have a networking element added to it. Think about it – every single networking event you might have attended, or perhaps one which you sent a subordinate to attend in your place, likely followed the same pattern all modern day networking events follow, which is that of the networking bit complemented by some kind of core event.

In this particular instance, there would essentially be two core events, one of which is the company’s corporate do, which would entail whatever is on the agenda (employee awards, a celebration, etc), while the other would entail the open networking proceedings. So here’s how it would ideally play out:

Taking full advantage of the venue booking

Benefiting fromtop corporate catering in New York City is often just a matter of picking out the catering company that provides a good quality service on that front, but naturally that means you might have to dig a little into your pockets for the kind of quality you desire. Pair that with other cost considerations, such as booking the right venue, and the costs start to add up.

If you’re going to stretch the corporate do into it incorporating a networking session, you can then take advantage of elements such as the booking fee for the venue. It won’t be that much more expensive than booking it for a couple of hours, for instance, if you rather choose to book the same venue for the full day.

B-2-B and B-2-C affiliate matching

Now, as far as it goes with that part of the equation which effectively stretches the corporate event into a networking event that effectively pays for its organizational costs, it’s more of a cost recuperation exercise than anything else.

The networking session will follow the corporate event, perhaps incorporating some kind of celebration right at the end, like a party which will effectively have the company personnel mingling with the networking session attendees. However, the attendees of the networking session would be propositioned with some offers for B-2-B or B-2-C products and services of which you (your company) would be an affiliate.

There are perhaps no hotter business services leads than those attending a networking session, especially if it’s one that’s put together by a business or company that might be celebrating some milestones or simply holding a corporate event to give off the impression of, or mirror some kind of success.

To make a very simple example, your company could refer these networking event attendees to a web hosting company via your affiliate links!

Who doesn’t love a challenge, or getting involved with something quirky and potentially crazy? Almost everyone can at least appreciate the effort that goes into setting a world record even if they don’t see the fun in attempting one, and this is one of the reasons why Guinness World Records has stood the test of time.

Guinness Records continues to draw around 50,000 record applications every year, although only thousands of these actually get accepted.

The first volume of the Book of Guinness World Records was essentially created to settle an argument in the 1950s, when there weren’t a lot of ways to settle pub arguments over who was the tallest man or who could hold a handstand for the longest. So the book was essentially a peace keeping device at the beginning, started by Sir Hugh Beaver the managing director at the Guinness brewery.

But why do we love world records so much?

Firstly, these world records set a standard, which many will read and think “I can beat that” which then spurs them to try and beat the challenge. These world records allow for scores to be settled, fun to be had, and for people to become recognised for their achievements.

Some of the world records aren’t just wacky and strange, there’s some that are factual and based on historical discoveries or science. So for those wishing to absorb more information and be the best at the pub quiz, it’s an appealing read.

From a business perspective, some companies are now using world records to increase brand awareness, or to increase awareness of an issue that the world is faced with. Recently, as part of Plastic Free July, an eco bags manufacturer in Wiltshire took on the record for the World’s Largest Jute Bag in an attempt to promote the use of plastic-free alternatives and to raise brand awareness.

The book was something that many households and schools, particularly in the UK, would have had a copy of at some stage even if they didn’t have every issue. Now, many of the records are documented online, offering a wealth of opportunities for brands and individuals to get noticed.

Even as we move further in to a digital age, the number of applicants shows no sign of slowing down!

The trend will continue with hybrid cloud computing, which combines both public and private cloud applications.

With the public cloud, customer-facing applications move to distributed servers and data centers to enhance performance and backup systems.

The private cloud allows financial institutions to move much of their IT infrastructure to data centers and hosting services.

The cost savings, increased flexibility, and performance gains will be significant as this trend moves through the industry.

Process Automation

Automation technology has met up with big data and artificial intelligence. The next trend in automation is called robotic process automation, and it promises to take internal processes in the financial industry to the next level of intelligent automation.

Leveraging the explosion of structured data, AI applications can automate tasks that have traditionally required human workers to execute.

Using a set of rules and learning from data patterns, these applications can make more sophisticated decisions and free employees for other tasks.

An example that has already seen implementation are customer service bots that interact effectively with customers using chat or voice technology.

These applications can handle increasingly complex customer questions by accessing related data in real-time without the intervention of human representatives.

Instant Payments

Party-to-party payment processing began the move to instant payment technology that eliminates traditional delays in clearing transfers between accounts.

Even in countries that lack the infrastructure needed for instant payments, financial institutions are partnering with each other to offer these alternative payment systems to their customers.

Digital payment systems are giving banks and payment processors the ability to conduct transactions online at the same speed as cash transactions in person.

Quantum Computers

Another technology that has been on the horizon for years is the quantum computer technology. This technology is getting closer to real-world implementation and will usher in a new era of exponential computer power growth.

Quantum computing is a fundamental change in electronic technology, using photons rather than electrons to store data and execute logic.

The traditional binary bits (1s and 0s) of electronic circuits are replaced with quantum bits that can represent three values: 1, 0, and both.

The increased speed of quantum circuits promises to achieve the computing power needed for the real-time AI and big data applications of the future.

The Bottom Line

Fintech disruption will continue to transform the financial industry at an increasing velocity because of the number of advanced technologies that are coming to market soon.

The increasing power of artificial intelligence and the volume of structured data that’s available to financial institutions will enable even greater efficiencies.

Internal cost savings and security will be realized together with better consumer products and satisfaction.

–

Joe Peters is a Baltimore-based freelance writer and an ultimate techie. When he is not working his magic as a marketing consultant, this incurable tech junkie devours the news on the latest gadgets and binge-watches his favorite TV shows. Follow him on @bmorepeters

News trading is one of the most effective ways to secure a large market movement. In fact, there are many professional traders in Hong Kong who only trade the major news. But dealing with the high impact data is not easy. Unless you have extensive experience with the Forex market, you should never trade the major news. The novice traders always think that trading is nothing but executing trades with some logic. But in reality, it’s more than that. You have to understand the important variables of this market and place trade with managed risk. When it comes to a news trading strategy, you need to be aware of the complex nature of this market.

The trend often gets changed

The new traders are always trading with the market trend. In a word, they blindly execute a trade in favor of the market trend. Even after following a trend trading strategy, and they still fail to make money. You need to understand the fact that the long term trend often changes. If you fail to identify the trend change, you are most likely to lose a few trades in a row. Being a new trader, you need to have the potential to go against the long term market trend. In a nutshell, you need a valid trading strategy which will help you to find the trades against the major trend.

False spikes of the market

When you trade the major news, you have to deal with the false spikes. Never think you can change your life without doing the proper work. As a currency trader, you have to find a reliable broker like Saxo so that you can easily use their premium platform to find good trades. Feel free to visit https://www.home.saxo/en-hk to learn more about the professional trading environment. Once you have access to such a great broker, you have to think about the false spike of this market. On the event of high impact news release, the market will often exhibit a false spike. So, if you execute a trade with a very tight stop, the chances are very high that you will lose a decent portion of your investment.

Dealing with the losing trades

Being a new trader, you must have strong risk management policy. Never think you will make money from all the trades. Even after doing a complex market analysis, you are bound to lose trades on a regular basis. If you lose a few trades, make sure you take a small break. During the break, try to find out the key reasons for which you are losing money. Never take things seriously since it will make your trading career worse. But this doesn’t mean you will keep losing money. Always take 1% risk to protect your trading capital or else you will wipeout your entire trading account.

Analyze the technical data

Those who are new to the news trading section might think technical analysis is not required to make a consistent profit. But technical analysis is just a part of this trading profession. Unless you analyze the technical data, it will be really hard to find quality trades at the key levels. If possible, learn price action trading strategy since it will help you to make a better decision. Never trade the market based on news data as it always results in heavy losses.

Learn multiple time frame analysis

You must master multiple time frame analysis since it is one of the easiest ways to filter out the false signals. Most of the time the market exhibits too many false signals in the event of major news. But if you learn to analyze the price pattern in a different time frame, you will easily find the best way to filter the best trades. Always consider a conservative trading technique in the trading business. Stop being an aggressive trader as it makes things really hard.

Surely you’ve heard that there are ways you can make money online, but how many of these opportunities are legitimate? It can be difficult to differentiate between the scams and the legit sources of work, so here’s a handy guide to show you the difference between the real opportunities and the fakes.

Stay Away from these Scams

Random comments online advertising high-paying jobs

We’ve all seen these comments online: “My neighbor’s cousin’s wife’s sister makes $45,000 a month working from home and she just bought herself a Lamborghini! Email thisisabigscam@yahoo.com to find out how!!!”. And perhaps you’ve wondered about them, from time to time – is it really possible for someone to make that much money from this vague “working from home” job with no actual requirements?

The short answer is no. The longer answer is that this is a scam, and that’s not because making money working from home isn’t possible, but because this is hardly a believable job advertisement. First of all, the source is sketchy – usually, some random forum online, and not a website advertising jobs. Secondly, they always reference some distant relative or acquaintance; again, it doesn’t make it very believable.

The job these people are supposedly doing is always very vague, and the pay is very high. Suffice it to say, don’t bother contacting these people, because you will not make a single cent “working from home”.

“You won $50,000!”/ “Click here to win” pop-ups

Every once in a while, you’ll be online, minding your own business, and you are suddenly visually assaulted by a big, flashing pop-up excitedly letting you know that YOU’VE WON, or that you can win, as long as you just click. The amount is fabulous and certainly tempting, but let’s think about this for a second.

Who are these people? How did they find you? You never get to see who is offering you this sudden, and very generous opportunity to win big. Hard to believe someone is just going around offering free money to people. And what did you do to win, anyway? Have you entered any competitions, lately? Have you signed up for anything? Do you even play the lottery? No?

Then this is sounding fishier and fishier by the second. Let’s not beat around the bush – this is a scam and if you click, the only thing you’ll win is malware, or a surprise eyeful of something NSFW. Hard pass.

Make money fast e-books

Ah see, these are even more insidious because they are more difficult to identify as scams: the make money fast e-books. It seems like pretty much every website is trying to sell you some secret, but guaranteed formula to make tons of money. You just have to buy it for $19.99 and in X weeks, you’ll make $20,000. Easy, right? But who are these people selling it? If it’s so special, why are they selling it to you, and why for so little? Why isn’t anyone else in on the secret?

…because this is a scam. Same goes for any “unique business venture” that requires you to buy in so that you can later make thousands of dollars. At best, it’s a pyramid scheme. At worst, it’s just straight-up a way to scam you out of your money.

Opt for these Legitimate Opportunities Instead

Freelancing websites

Let’s make this clear from the get-go – this is your best bet when it comes to earning a decent income. First of all, it’s very convenient. You can do these jobs from home, or anywhere else you want, as long as you’ve got an internet connection. In addition, the freelance nature of these types of gigs means that you only work when you want, for as long as you want. So, if your schedule is a bit hectic for a traditional 9 to 5, this may be perfect for you.

Plus, it’s easy to find freelancing gigs, because there are plenty of websites, niches, and projects awaiting you. There is a multitude of skills you could be putting to good use, including proofreading, writing, web design, html, graphic design, etc. All you have to do is figure out what you are good at or would like to do and then bid on projects that sound good to you with your best pitch and samples of your work, if you have them.

Finally, there’s actually good money to be made, here. You won’t get rich as a beginner, by any means, but in time, you can earn a decent living. As you gain more experience, you can start increasing your rate. Plus, the more projects you take on, the more you can make, and there is no shortage of clients.

Filling out surveys

If you are, perhaps, looking for something less skill-based, or that takes less time, then maybe you’ll be interested in filling out surveys. The job is exactly what it says on the tin: you get links to all kinds of product and brand surveys and you need to give your honest opinion/preference on all of them. The surveys don’t take longer than a few minutes.

The big draw here is that anyone can do this; there is no need for skills, training, or education. As long as you can click or tap, you are able to do this. It doesn’t take a lot of time, and you can also do it while doing something else, because it doesn’t require all of your attention.

Tutoring

If you’re up to the task and have always wanted to teach, but education was never quite your calling, then online tutoring may be your happy middle ground. Working from home as an English tutor, for example, will be the easiest, because there is no need for any other skills. You only need a webcam and an internet connection and you’re good to go. But you can also tutor in other subjects, if you’ve got the knowledge.

This is easy, because you can do it from home, and you take on as many sessions as you like or have time for. There’s also the advantage of the fact that there are students from all over the world looking for lessons; you can work at any time of the day or night and there’s bound to be someone ready to learn.

Bottom line

Working online doesn’t have to be risky, but it’s not all 100% legitimate, either. There are some very real opportunities for online jobs, like tutoring, filling out surveys, or freelancing, but you’ve got to differentiate them from the scams that keep popping up everywhere, promising big paydays for little to no work.